


The Gideon Saga

by Nycon04



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Angst, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Therapy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29026863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nycon04/pseuds/Nycon04
Summary: Gideon (a young red fox from Bunnyburrows) makes his way through life as best he can as he struggles with expectations, societal constructs, toxic people in his life, and most importantly; himself.This story will be an extremely slow burn with an emphasis on character growth and relationships as Gideon goes through life.Important Note: Character voices are read phonetically, but sometimes, it is hard to write like that. Imagine Gideon and his father (so far) to speak in a southern accent.Final Note: This is my first fic that I am publishing. Feedback would be excellent especially because I want to improve my writing ability as the story progresses. It will be an interesting thing to observe to see if my writing improves over time. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Bobby Catmull/Gideon Grey, Gideon Grey/Nick Wilde, Gideon Grey/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 8





	1. In the Beginning...

**Author's Note:**

> Introduction: This fanfic takes place in BunnyBurrows following Gideon Grey and his story rather than Judy and her’s. This story will be set in the exact universe at the same time as the movie. After the events of Zootopia, the cannon will diverge heavily, unless the cannon goes a little insane. Also keep in mind that many of the plot points in this story are inspired by real life events in my life or they will be me projecting. I am mainly writing this because I love Gideon as a character and there isn’t enough fanfic about him. This is mainly going to focus on Gideon but there will also be other made up side characters as the story progresses. I intend to make this story a melting pot of tropes. Some of it is probably going to be really dark while other parts might be fluffy and romantic. 
> 
> Author’s note: Like most Zootopia fanfics with Gideon, the dialogue is read phonetically. If a dialogue line looks odd, it is because the character has a accent (almost always Southern).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shameless Plug Time: Follow me on twitter @Nycon8 for suggestions, comments, feedback, or anything else you have to say about ‘The Gideon Saga’. Just DM me. Or come by to see gay struggle tweets, thirsting for Blackbeard from R6, being a furry, cringe (posted by me) and emotional rants about anxiety or abusive/homophobic parents.

“ARAGGGGGHHHH! MAKE IT STOP! AAAAHHHHRRRRRR!”, a middle aged fox screamed while baring her teeth. A few of the animals who were helping jumped back in fear at the sight, but her husband remained at her side. He tightened his grip on her hand as she tightened hers on his. If not, she would break every bone in his paw.

“Sh-Should we get more s-sedatives? Maybe some more N-Novocain? She won’t last much longer if we do n-nothing.”, a young nurse stuttered. 

“No, we don’t have a lot of that stuff. The Bunnyburrow hospital isn’t exactly restocked regularly.” A male goat doctor said. “We’re lucky there is even a hospital all the way out here.”

“ARAHAHHHHHHH”, the vixen screamed, snapping the doctor and nurse out of their side discussion.

“OK Mrs. Grey I am going to need you to stay calm.” The doctor looked down to see if everything was in order. “Alright. On the count of 3, I am going to need you to push. Can you do that?”

The vixen simply clenched her teeth and nodded in response.

“Alright. 1... 2... 3! Push!” The doctor yelled. The vixen pushed with all her might while screams of agony escaped her mouth. Tears streamed down her face as she tried her hardest to not stop pushing. Then all of the sudden, the room fell silent. Only a moment passed before the small sounds of a baby’s cry filled the room. “It’s a boy.”, the doctor said in a quite and cheery tone.

“Yeah we know. We had uh sonogram done uh while back”, the male fox said quietly.

The doctor nodded in understanding. “Would you like to hold your kit, Mrs. Grey?” But the vixen had already passed out from exhaustion. 

“Ah would like tuh hold him. Ah read that the moments right after birth are important for uh parent and uh kit to make important initial connections.”, the male fox stated.

“That’s true. It’s why I asked.” The doctor said as he gingerly handed the newborn kit over to the father. “When you’re ready for us to take him back to clean him up, just tell me ok?”

“Will do doc.” The fox responded.

“Alright everyone, let’s clear out and give Mr. Grey some time alone with his kit.” The doctor said quietly while herding the other nurses and helping hands out of the room. After a moment, everybody was out of the room and the doctor was about the shut the door when he looked back and asked, “Have y’all decided on a name?”

The male fox looked up from his kit for a second and said to the doctor, “Gideon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed Chapter 1. It was just s short little warm up chapter to get me prepped for the rest.


	2. Optimistic or Naive. Is there a difference?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a boring day, Gideon gets a special announcement from his parents.

“GIDEON!”, screamed a voice.

Five year old Gideon’s eyes shot open and he bolted into an upright position. “Mmm hmm? What’s wrong?”, he yelled back in response. He had forgotten that he went outside a while back to get out of the house. _Aw no, momma’s gonna be mad if she finds out that ah fell asleep._ He quickly peered behind his head to see if she was in the doorway. _Dang it..._

“What are you doing out here Gideon? Did you fall asleep again?” Her voice was soft but commanding at the same time.

“No ah didn’t.” Gideon said defensively, but not very convincingly.

“Oh Gideon. You know, for a fox, you’re a pretty bad liar.” She sadly chuckled to herself a little before saying, “Come on Gideon, let’s go inside. You’re father and I have something we need to talk to you about.” But Gideon became steadfast and didn’t move from his spot in the grass.

Gideon looked up at his mom and asked, “Aren’tcha mad at me for fallin asleep again?”

“You shouldn’t just fall asleep when you’re outside by your self. But no, I am not mad about that this time.” Gideon’s mom looked at Gideon sorrowfully, but then quickly turned back to face the front door. “Let’s go Gid.”

Gideon then promptly got up, grabbed his mother’s hand, and walked with her inside their house which was located in a nice little suburb in rural Bunnyburrow. He lived on a street where all the houses were different, but very similar. They were all medium-small sized houses in a neighborhood that was for slightly larger animals than the overwhelming majority of bunnies and small prey that lived there. Another thing to note was that the neighborhood had only predators living in it.

Gideon was guided through the house to the living room where his dad was seated. “Hey Gid. We wanted tuh talk tuh yuh about whachur gonna do about school next year.” Gideon’s dad took a breath. “Yur mom and ah decided to send yuh tuh Bunnyburrows Academy this year.” Gideon’s mom and dad looked at Gideon for a reaction.

“Wow. Ah’m gonna go tuh uh real school next year! That’s so cool!” Gideon exclaimed excitedly. Gideon’s mom looked over at his dad and they exchanged glances.

“Look Gideon.” His dad began to explain. “There’s somethin’ we need tuh tell yuh about this school.” A few moments passed before he started talking again. “It’ll have uh mix of predators an’ prey and yuh need tuh prepare fur some things.”

“Like what?” Gideon questioned.

“Well... sum animals likely ain’t gonna like yuh ‘cuz yur a fox.” Gideon’s dad said bluntly.

“JOHN!” Gideon’s mom exclaimed. “You watch you’re tongue!” She shifted her attention over to Gideon. “What he means is, it might be hard to make friends with some people even if you’re nice to them. With those people, you can either walk away, or try again to make friends. But sometimes, people can be mean so please don’t do anything you might regret.”

“Ok ah guess. Ah wanna make friends with everyone though!” Gideon’s sense of optimism put a smile on his parents’ faces, but their smiles were filled with pity.

A few more moments of awkward silence passed. “Ok Gideon, why don’t you head back outside to play. Don’t go falling asleep again.” Gideon’s mom said. John and his wife continued to talk quietly after Gideon left the room.

On his way out the door, Gideon considered what his parents said. ‘Well... sum animals likely ain’t gonna like yuh ‘cuz yur a fox.’, Gideon remembered. A confused expression slid across his face. “Ah don’t really understand, but ah wanna make friends anyway.”

Gideon faced the world as he always did up until that point; with optimism. He ran to the center of his yard and took in the view. It was something that he liked to do sometimes because it made him feel better. He began to look around and think specifically about his surroundings. He counted five houses on the left side of his house and 6 on the right. Gideon knew that there were more houses to the left and the right, but the road curved making it impossible for him to see them from his vantage point. Every one of those houses were cookie cutter models with slightly different color schemes. A few of the houses on his street were even exactly like his own, but with a different color. These colors didn’t vary much. In fact, the only difference between all of them are that they were different shades of either brown or grey. His street was a small part of a larger system of houses that all looked the same. It was obvious that non of the residents of this neighborhood built these houses, which was surprising given they were in Bunnyburrows. This medium sized suburb sat in one of the five areas of the burrows and while the town government opposed the separation of the town into these zones, the residents did anyway (even if it was unofficial). Even though the mammals that lived there didn’t want to acknowledge it, these zones were essentially separated by the socioeconomic status’s of the animals living in them with exception to the plaza located in the center of town. This is where the bulk of the stores are and where most people hang out. The zone Gideon and his family were in was essentially the middle class zone. This zone is actually the zone with the most even ratio of predator to prey population. In here, for every one predator, there are about five prey. His neighborhood, however, was almost strictly predator only. Another zone was the lower class zone. This zone was almost all predators and about half of the population of this zone was in poverty while the other half was barely scraping by. The zone adjacent from the lower class zone was the farmland zone. This zone almost entirely consisted of rabbits who farmed for a living. This zone was by far the most spacious zone taking up almost a hundred square miles of land. In fact, the ratio of families to farmland (in square miles) in this zone is 1:7. However, admittedly, the population of this zone is the highest. The fourth zone is the upper class. This zone is mostly prey with some predators sprinkled in. These animals are elite in terms of socioeconomic wealth. In fact, they don’t even really associate with the other parts of the town. They even formed a group and petitioned to secede from the burrows and form their own town, but the city shot it down.

Of course, Gideon didn’t know much of any of this. He had heard about some of the things on the news station that his father watches, but he never really paid that much attention. In fact, Gideon never really went outside his zone all that much because his parent’s didn’t really see a need to.

After carefully examining the street he was on, he turned around and faced his own house. He tried to form a mental map of what his house looked like on the inside because there wasn’t much on the outside to look at. It took him less than a minute of examining his own house to see that it was another cookie cutter house just like the rest of them. He imagines walking through his house. First, after entering through the front door, go through the door in the top right corner of the foyer. That leads to the living room where the couch and TV are. This is also where his dad was situated a few minutes ago. If you then take the door immediately to the left, you will pass a staircase down to the basement. If you go downstairs, on your left will be a storage room and on your right you will find two doors. One brings you to a pantry while the other brings you to a bathroom. If you go back upstairs and take a left immediately, you will end up in the kitchen/eating area. If you take the door on the left, you will end up in Gideon’s parent’s room. Their room has a bathroom and a closet protruding off of it. If, from the kitchen, you go to the first door on the back wall, you reach Gideon’s room and if you take the second door, you get to another bathroom.

Gideon opens his eyes not even realizing that he had closed them to begin with. After a moment of standing in one spot not doing anything, he took one more look around his yard in a futile attempt to find something to do. Nothing.

“Guess Ah’ll go in.” Gideon muttered to himself reluctantly. It was beginning to get dark anyway and after spending most of the day outside, his denim overalls and red t-shirt were getting dirty. He really needed a shower.

“Oh hey Gideon!”, a female voice called from behind him. Gideon turned around to see a young red fox approach him.

“Oh hey Victoria! Ah am just heading in.” Gideon said as he began to walk toward the front door.

“Cool. I’ll join you.” Victoria said casually.

“So how was goin’ tuh ya friend’s house?” Gideon asked. “Ah thought Ma was goin’ tuh walk yuh home.”

“Yeah well maybe mom sees that I can walk down the street by myself now that I’m nine. Anyway, how was your day bro?”

“Mah day was ok. Kinda borin’ but whatever... Oh yeah! Mom and dad told meh that Ah’m goin’ tuh yur school next year.” Gideon exclaimed proudly.

“Wait. Really? I thought they couldn’t afford to send you to BBA? We ain’t rich after all.” Victoria observed while looking at their house from the front yard.

Victoria didn’t really have an accent like Gideon or their father did, but sometimes, the southern draw could be heard in her voice or her vernacular. Her voice patterns were heavily influenced by her mother. She associated the southern accent with “low class people” and didn’t want her daughter to follow the trend. It got to the point where she would scold Victoria every time she gave hints of a southern accent and for a short period of time, she would snap a rubber band against her arm as punishment every time she spoke with one. It took a few years before their mother had “corrected” her accent, but by the time Gideon was born and could talk, she had given up seeing how heavy his was. That’s why Gideon has a southern accent and Victoria doesn’t.

“If yuh say so...” Gideon said. For a five year old, Gideon had a surprisingly good sense of grammar and vocabulary. However, he had no clue about anything regarding socioeconomics. He had noticed that sometimes, when he is at the store, his mother wouldn’t buy him something because “we can’t afford it”, but he had no real idea about anything concerning wealth. Victoria on the other hand, had more experience in the world. As far as she was aware, her parents did not have much money compared to the population of people at her school.

“Whatever. Let’s try not to think about it.” A moment of silence passed. “Everything is changing huh.” She looked over at Gideon who had a slightly worried look on his face. “...but for the good. Right Gideon?”

“Hopefully...” Gideon said with a small smile.

“Oh come on Gid! Things are changing for the better and life is going to be good!” Victoria said cheerfully. She always tended to be an optimist.

As soon as Victoria said that, a knot formed in his stomach. He didn’t know why. Was it worry? A bad omen? Anticipation? Whatever it was, Gideon didn’t like it. “I hope yur right.” Another moment passed. “Let’s head in.”

“Mmm hmm.” Victoria mumbled with a small grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Summary: 5 year old Gideon gets his Hogwarts letter and immediately ponders the socioeconomic foundation of his society.
> 
> I want to mention that Gideon doesn’t really know about the socioeconomic situation going on in the burrows. Those paragraphs were more me as the author talking to you as the reader and explaining part of the situation.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. Please comment any feedback you might have. Thanks!


	3. Foundation of Environmentally Influenced Political Ideologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gideon gets exposed to the complexities of politics...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this chapter is quite short, but I think it is important to establish why Gideon does what he does in the movie and his beliefs. All of these things that Gideon’s father says to him about politics are something that my own father has said to me in order to do the same thing. 
> 
> This chapter takes place a few months later from the first chapter in June. Gideon turns 6 at the end of July and he goes to school in August. 
> 
> I also think it’s important to say that I personally don’t agree with any of the ideologies discussed in this chapter. It is an ideology that I used to identify with, but like Gideon, I went through a character arc of my own and changed my opinion.

Gideon sat at the table to eat his breakfast. The TV was on, but Gideon tried not to pay attention. His father was sitting on the couch watching as Fox News headlines slid across the screen. His sister and his mother weren’t in the room. 

Gideon, trying to focus on eating his cereal, couldn’t help but notice the scowl that was apparent on his dads face. Gid peered at the screen. ‘President Baker begins his term with a bang. Radical changes ahead for this country as 23 new executive orders are immediately enacted.’

“Damn it all! Ah knew this president wuz gonna screw up this country.” Gideon’s father muttered under his breath. He turned around to see Gideon catching a quick glance at the screen. “Yuh know what he’s doin’?” Gideon’s father asked him.

Gideon knew his father was passionate on the topic of politics, but Gideon didn’t want to get involved because typically, when he begins talking about it, he starts getting angry. Even thought he would get angry, Gideon’s dad never beat him. Apart from the occasional spankings he would get if he did something bad, his father would never try to hurt him out of bad intentions. Most of the time, his father was a gentle fox. Gideon just didn’t like to hear him yell.

“Uhh” Gideon tried to think of a reply that wouldn’t lead to a conversation, but it was too late. His father just started talking.

“This dumbass that the country elected is messin’ up the economy!” Gideon’s father exclaimed.

Gideon rolled his eyes. He was in it for the long hall. He really only wanted to go play Gideon games, but he was now stuck in a conversation. “How?”

“First of all, he’s gonna’ make it so the taxes are higher fur the upper class! Do yuh think that’s fair?”

“Ah dunno’.” He didn’t know. How was Gideon supposed to know anything about the economy. 

“No. It ain’t fair at all. These rich people worked fur the wealth they have. And it ain’t fair fur the guhver’ment tuh just take it away!”

“What even are taxes?”

Gideon’s father eyed him with slight confusion. “Yuh dunno?”

Gideon shook his head signaling that he didn’t know. 

“Uh tax is when the guhver’ment takes away sum of yur earnings from yur job to pay fur their projects or tuh get them out of their debt hole they dug themselves into. Imagine if yuh worked really hard fur yur money that’cha get from yur job, and the guhver’ment comes and takes forty percent of it.”

“That don’t sound very fair.” At this point, Gideon went over to sit on the couch next to his father. This began to intrigue him. 

“IT AIN’T! And also, now, the money we spend on taxes are gonna’ go tuh people who don’t wanna work! We are gonna’ pay fur people tuh not work.”

“Huh that don’t make any sense.”

“Ah know. Sum people ain’t getting jobs ‘cuz they don’t wanna and now the guhver’ment wants tuh pay them fur it.” 

Gideon thought through what his father was saying. It made sense when he said it like that. He believed that his father knew what he was talking about so Gideon trusted him.

“So Gid, do yuh agree?”

Gideon’s eyes lit up. In his mind, his father was always right. “Yeah.” 

“Good. Ah mean this when ah say it; yur far smarter than most of the people in the capital.”

This made Gideon feel good about himself. According to his father, he could comprehend difficult topics that even adults couldn’t get right. He must be right.

“And that’s just economics. Wait ‘til ah tell yuh about the radical social reforms this president is tryna pull off.” 

Gideon inched closer in anticipation to what his father was about to say. The more he said, the more it interested him, however, Gideon didn’t realize that his father was essentially brainwashing him. Instead of sitting back and explaining these issues in a non biased way and letting Gideon form his own opinions, his father wanted to make sure that Gideon shared his and his wife’s beliefs.

“They’re tryna make these new prey and female inclusion initiatives that are gonna make it really hard fur people like yuh and me tuh get jobs. They tryna make it so that straight, male, predators won’t be able to get jobs!”

A few questions about what an inclusion initiative is went by before Gideon asked, “Why don’t predators an’ prey all have equal numbers in the workplace?”

“Predators and prey operate differently. In my opinion, predators are more suited fur certain jobs and prey fur others. Take bunnies fur example. There are uh lot of ‘em here in the burrows. They are more suited fur farm work. The Hopps, fur example, are carrot farmers.”

“Who?”, Gideon asked. Ignoring his question, his father continued to talk.

“Now you’ve seen uh bunny before. Would yuh wanna bunny doing large scale or dangerous jobs like being uh constriction worker or a police officer? No. Yuh wouldn’t. They aren’t built tuh do things like that.” 

Gideon recalled the original statement about social reforms and still had a question about one word he didn’t know. “What does straight mean?”

Gideon’s father jerked his head to the side to face Gideon. His eyes shot open as if he had made a grave mistake. A few seconds of awkward staring from Gideon and his dad staring back as if he had just seen a ghost began to fill the entire room with unease. Gideon was getting more uncomfortable by the second while his dad was trying to form a plan of action. 

“It’s... it’s sumthin’ yuh will learn about later in life. Gideon look at me fur a second.” Gideon’s father stared directly into Gideon’s eyes. “Do not tell yur mother what I said and do not ask her what ‘straight’ means. Daddy will be in big trouble if you do.”

Gideon began to tremble slightly. “Why. I-is it b-bad?” 

“No. Bein’ straight isn’t bad, but the opposite is. In fact, the opposite is evil an’ disgusting. The liberals are tryna make it a good thing, but you gotta’ remember that it’s bad. Remember, don’t tell mom.”

Gideon, still trembling, couldn’t think of another response than “ok”. And that was all he said. 

After Gideon said that, his father broke the stare. They continued to talk about politics until his mother and sister walked in through the front door, but there was still an awkward tension in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... and homophobia, but he doesn’t know it yet and he won’t for quite a while.


End file.
